Elon opens spring football looking for leaders on offense

Published: Thursday, April 4, 2013 at 12:49 AM.

ELON — Don’t expect the Elon University football team to delve into a great deal of complexity on offense during spring practice.

The Phoenix finished its first of 15 sessions on Wednesday night with three quarterbacks competing for a wide-open starting job, an offensive line currently devoid of its anchor — center Clay Johnson, coming off surgery — and only one senior, receiver Rasaun Rorie, working with the first unit.

Coach Jason Swepson said there were certain situations during the spring-practice opener in which Elon’s inexperience on offense was striking, such as quarterback John Loughery taking snaps from offensive lineman Jack Williams. Both players were true freshmen during the 2012 season.

“I like the group. They’re just young. They’re young,” Swepson said. “Right now we’re just looking for some footing on offense. We’ve got a long way to go. And each day, we’ve just got to get a little bit better and improve on technique.

“We’re going to have to decide what we can and cannot do in these 15 practices, so we’re not going halfway through preseason camp (in August) saying, ‘we can’t do this,’ because of our youth on offense. We’ve got our work cut out for us as offensive coaches.”

Perhaps a fitting visual description of that challenge was found in offensive line coach Ron Mattes’ extra explanations with Gordon Acha, a rising redshirt freshman, as all but a handful of players remained on Elon’s practice fields Wednesday night.

“The good thing is I think we’re going to have some competition on offense, where we haven’t had it in a while at certain positions,” Swepson said. “I think they’re all good players and I think they want to be successful, so it’s our job to put them in position to be successful. We’ve got to do a good job coaching. They’ve got to do a good job listening.”

ELON — Don’t expect the Elon University football team to delve into a great deal of complexity on offense during spring practice.

The Phoenix finished its first of 15 sessions on Wednesday night with three quarterbacks competing for a wide-open starting job, an offensive line currently devoid of its anchor — center Clay Johnson, coming off surgery — and only one senior, receiver Rasaun Rorie, working with the first unit.

Coach Jason Swepson said there were certain situations during the spring-practice opener in which Elon’s inexperience on offense was striking, such as quarterback John Loughery taking snaps from offensive lineman Jack Williams. Both players were true freshmen during the 2012 season.

“I like the group. They’re just young. They’re young,” Swepson said. “Right now we’re just looking for some footing on offense. We’ve got a long way to go. And each day, we’ve just got to get a little bit better and improve on technique.

“We’re going to have to decide what we can and cannot do in these 15 practices, so we’re not going halfway through preseason camp (in August) saying, ‘we can’t do this,’ because of our youth on offense. We’ve got our work cut out for us as offensive coaches.”

Perhaps a fitting visual description of that challenge was found in offensive line coach Ron Mattes’ extra explanations with Gordon Acha, a rising redshirt freshman, as all but a handful of players remained on Elon’s practice fields Wednesday night.

“The good thing is I think we’re going to have some competition on offense, where we haven’t had it in a while at certain positions,” Swepson said. “I think they’re all good players and I think they want to be successful, so it’s our job to put them in position to be successful. We’ve got to do a good job coaching. They’ve got to do a good job listening.”

Swepson said he can envision Elon’s search for a starting quarterback carrying on until maybe 10 days prior to its Aug. 31 season opener at Georgia Tech.

Mike Quinn, a rising junior who backed up starter Thomas Wilson each of the last two seasons, is competing with Loughery, a rising redshirt freshman, who happens to be a cousin of Atlanta Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan, and sophomore Trevor Vasey, a junior-college transfer.

Johnson, a rising senior, is one of three team leaders who had shoulder surgery and have been placed off-limits on contact during spring.